March 16, 2015 - The Air Force and a small
business partner developed an innovative,
high-temperature, abrasion-resistant coating
product that could directly improve the
reliability and maintainability of weapon
systems across the Air Force, including the F-35
Lightning II.

With funding from the Air Force Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business
Technology Transfer (STTR) Program, Texas
Research Institute (TRI), in
Austin,
Texas, the Proteckt
high-temperature coating has demonstrated
significant improvements in abrasion resistance
at operational temperatures during laboratory
testing.

“This is roughly a 2,000 percent improvement in
the average time between coating failures and
directly addresses a current F-35 need,” said
Maj. George Woodworth, the Air Force Research
Laboratory SBIR project manager. “We anticipate
that the new material will provide the program
an estimated $14 million in life-cycle cost
savings.”

Abrasion-resistant camouflage coatings are used
to protect composite surfaces of aircraft. These
coatings are thin and usually spray- applied.
Existing products experience some degradation in
performance and color over time, especially when
exposed to high temperatures, and can cause
extensive damage to the underlying composite
material.

“When a coating wears prematurely, it also
causes an unscheduled maintenance burden to
repair or strip and recoat the area,” Woodworth
said. “If the degradation is not discovered in
time, damage to the underlying aircraft section
can occur.”

Currently, the preferred abrasion-resistant camouflage
coatings are filled polyurethane paints. These paints
have moderate high-temperature resistance, but very poor
long-term wear resistance at high temperatures and they
degrade over time, resulting in the need for frequent
repair and recoating. However, the Air Force needs
abrasion-resistant coatings that can withstand high
temperatures for longer durations and that match the
existing camouflage paint schemes of aircraft parts. TRI
evaluated a variety of raw materials, developed numerous
coating formulations in conjunction with the
experimental design development process and then
identified the best formulations.

It
can be applied using traditional procedures, including
brush, roller and high-volume low-pressure spray. Due to
high interest in the product, the firm received a $1.3
million Rapid Innovation Funding award to further
advance the technology.